


The Sweetest Sound

by WritingCreatingStorytelling



Category: Chris Evans - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Parenthood, beard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:59:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4708517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingCreatingStorytelling/pseuds/WritingCreatingStorytelling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Chris Evans Oneshot. Daddy!Chris has to shave his beard for his next movie role. His daughter reacts to seeing him sans beard for the very first time. (Requested by a wonderful reader on Tumblr.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sweetest Sound

There were many sounds that held the ability to evoke an indescribable happiness within Chris’s heart. His mother’s melodious voice as she sang his favorite childhood lullaby _Return to Pooh Corner_. The soft snores of his sleeping dog that stayed tucked close to his side. The crackling of wood burning brightly in the middle of a campsite. And the noisy stillness of life he experienced while being surrounded by nothing but trees.

All of these reverberations calmed him, centered him, zapped him back to a tranquility he desperately tried to hold onto on a rainy day.

But nothing - absolutely _nothing_ \- could awaken his soul, could shine a light into the darkest corners of his mind and drown out the brain noise, like the sweet, precious giggles of his two favorite girls in the world; _his wife and daughter_.

For the past twenty-five minutes, Chris had been planted in front of the sink, clippers in hand. He wasn’t particularly overjoyed at the thought of shaving off the beard, especially knowing this was the look his wife preferred. But his paternity leave was up and he was ordered to be facial hair free before reporting to set in three days time. He had been brooding about it all morning, moaning and groaning as the day got later and later. It didn’t help that Natalia refused to help him - in fact, she had shielded her eyes and bounced out of the room before he could stop her, claiming she “ _couldn’t watch_ ”.

He had meant to begin the ridiculously tedious process when Abby went down for a nap after lunch, but his wife had cornered him to request one more romp in the sheets with her lumberjack husband. Who was he to deny her? Plus, he was a sucker for the folded lip. And the sparkle behind her pretty brown eyes.

Abby had woken up five minutes after he had started, keeping Natalia company in the bedroom. As he shaved, Chris had been smiling and laughing to himself rather than grunting in displeasure, listening in to _The Itsy Bitsy Spider_ \- imagining his wife trying to teach his daughter the hand choreography - and the classic _Abby Abby Bo-babby Banana-fana fo-fabby fee-fi-mo-mabby Abby!_ \- certain his princess’ brow was creased as she tried to figure out if her mother was hilarious or just plain crazy.

 _God_ , he really, _really_ didn’t want to leave them in a few days. It was going to kill him - _crush_ him - to say goodbye. He wasn’t sure how he was going to manage it.

Natalia was blowing raspberries on the giggling toddler’s tummy when the buzzing vibrations coming from the bathroom ceased. Pausing with her face close to Abby’s Buddha belly, she called out, “How’s it lookin’ in there?”

Chris chuckled while passing a hand over his freshly bare skin. “Bare. I feel naked…and freakin’ cold.”

Natalia snorted from her seat on the bed, wincing slightly when Abby began to play drums rather roughly on her head. “Are you going to come out from hiding so we can see your pretty face?” She was curious to see him, having grown accustom to his scruff. It had been nearly two years since she had last seen him without it and the little ball of sadness couldn’t be stopped even if she tried.

His grumpy reply cut through the room. “No. I’m not coming out of here until it grows back.” Then, a soft mutter followed, “ _I don’t wike it_.”

Natalia burst into laughter, rousing the same reaction out of Abby even though the toddler didn’t know what was so amusing.

“Are you _laughing_ at me?!” Chris accused in a high pitch.

“What?” She managed to say, beaming at her happy baby girl. “You don’t _wike_ that either?”

“Ah, shaddup.” With a Cheshire Cat grin spread wide on his face, Chris reached for the aftershave and shook the contents into his palm before clapping his hands together.

Natalia knew it was coming. The bastard had been doing it since she could remember. She tried to distract Abby, pulling faces and placing kisses on her chubby cheeks. But as soon as the dramatic scream that replicated a certain _Home Alone_ famous scene bounced off the walls, the toddler’s body instantly stiffened and went on high alert. Natalia giggled at an attempt to get her daughter to do the same as she always did. “Dada is so silly! Isn’t he, baby? Yeah, he is! Silly dada.”

Abby’s frown immediately turned upside down at the mere mention of her father. “Dada, dada, dada,” she began to chant, jumping up and down in place on the bed while her mother kept her from falling over.

Chris popped his head out from the doorway. “Did someone summon me?” He asked with a goofy smile - the same one his daughter owned.

With the biggest cheesy grin on her face, Abby whipped her head towards Chris’s voice, ready to greet him with another excitable chant. But what she saw - or didn’t see rather - was something that knocked her back down on her diapered bottom. Abby’s eyes widened and her lip began to quiver. She looked absolutely terrified.

“Oh no…what’s that look for?” Chris inquired with a bemused chuckle, slowly approaching the bed. Abby responded by scurrying up to fling herself at her mother, clinging to her as Chris leaned over to rub her back. “Is she okay?”

“She was fine a second ago,” Natalia answered, concerned. She kissed the top of her daughter’s head, then laid her cheek on her hair. “She doesn’t feel warm. What’s wrong, baby?”

Abby whined against her mother’s neck while her tiny fists were balled with the back of Natalia’s shirt.

“Do I stink?” Chris half-joked, taking a whiff of each armpit.

Natalia went to laugh, shaking her head in amusement, until the light bulb switched on above her head the second her eyes landed on his new appearance. “Aw, I think it’s your face.”

His brows knitted together. “My _face_?”

“Yeah. No - wait - not your-” She barked a laugh, rolling her eyes. “I mean she doesn’t recognize you without the beard. She’s never seen you without it.”

The frown deepened at his mouth before his attention went back to his daughter’s shaken up form. “Baby doll…it’s okay…it’s dada. You know me. It’s dada.”

The tiny brunette slowly lifted her head and cautiously looked over at him. Confusion etched across her features. The stranger _sounded_ like her dada, _smelt_ like her dada, but definitely did _**not** look _like her dada.

Chris leaned in closer and offered her a gentle smile, receiving another whine. He backed away and clutched the left side of chest, fighting against the sting behind his eyes. “Oh, baby girl, you’re breaking my heart. It’s dada, sweetie.”

Natalia clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, looking down at Abby. “I think maybe if you–” Her speech halted when she glanced in his direction, her own heart breaking. “Are you - oh my god, you’re _crying_ …” Natalia kept one hand at her daughter’s back in reassurance, while bringing the other to cup her husband’s cheek. “Baby…”

Chris sniffled, misty eyes refusing to meet hers, solely focused on his daughter’s that stared frighteningly at him. “My daughter is afraid of me.”

“Chris…” She brushed her thumb across his smooth and slightly pink cheek.

He shifted back to let her comforting hand slip away, straightening his back and sighing out loud. “She doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know I’m her dada. How is she going to react after not seeing me for eight weeks?”

Natalia bit the corner of her lip. Seeing her husband cry, seeing the look of pure sadness consume his gorgeous blue eyes was always her downfall. She didn’t like seeing him like this one bit. “C'mere,” She pat the empty spot on the bed. “Come sit and talk to her so she can hear it’s you.”

Chris obliged, and for the next several minutes, that’s exactly what he did. He talked. He sang. He pulled the same funny faces he always did that made her shriek with laughter. He even did his best impression of Olaf that she loved so much.

Nothing worked.

“Fu- _forget_ this. I quit. I’m not going. I’m resigning from acting and becoming a stay-at-home dad.”

Natalia let out a short puff of amusement. “Stop. You’ve been excited about this film for months. I am not going to let you give it up.” She rubbed Abby’s back when she began to fuss again. “She’s just going through her stranger danger phase. It’s only because she’s not used to seeing you sans beard. She’ll get used to it.”

“How? I’m leaving Thursday and summer break is two months from now.”

“We talked about this,” she reminded him softly, trying to console her husband and now daughter who had begun to try crawling up her mother like she was rock climbing. “We’ll facetime and talk on the phone whenever you can. – __Where are you going, silly girl?__ – And I’ll be sure to have her kiss the picture of us beside her crib before she goes to sleep at night. And on top of all of that, we both know your mom loves to – _Ouch. Abby, don’t grip mama’s skin like that, honey._ _–_ play those home videos of you any chance she gets. – _Abby, stop._ – She’s not going to forget you, Chris. I promise.”

After a beat of silence, Chris let out a childish, “ _wah_ ” with a pout accompanying it, eyes glued to his guarded baby girl.

Natalia suppressed a laugh, bumping his shoulder. Then an idea struck her. “Wait here!” She bounced up and skipped out of the room - finally rousing a giggle from the tight lipped toddler.

Chris sat back on the bed, arms folded; brooding. He was seriously contemplating giving up his acting and directing career and doing something else that had nothing to do with altering his appearance now and again. He couldn’t handle another reaction like this from her or their future children.

He rubbed his jaw and pondered it. Maybe he could be an art teacher. He loved kids. He could draw and paint. Or maybe he could teach drama. Certainly he had the qualifications and impeccable resume for that. The only thing that stopped him from reaching for his cell was the pounding of her feet coming towards the bedroom.

Natalia returned with a flushed Abby at her hip and a photo album tucked under her other arm. She plopped them both back down on the bed next to a still frowning Chris who couldn’t take his eyes off of daughter, her posture back to the same high alert stiffness after catching him staring at her.

“I forgot I had this,” he heard his wife explain, noticing the sleeves of picture now laying flat across her legs. “I had it made the first time we were separated while you finished up your Marvel contract. I spent each night going through it, hoping it would ease the ache of missing you.”

“Stalker,” Chris muttered, albeit touched by her confession. He hadn’t known she done it. It was the sweetest little secret she had kept for years.

“Shush,” Natalia laughed, then shifted back to allow Abby to sit more comfortably on her lap, directly in front of the photo album. “Okay, Abby girl! Let’s show you the many faces of Christopher Evans.”

Chris chuckled. His wife was always full of brilliant ideas. He just hoped this one worked.

“Look, Abby..” Natalia pointed to the first picture of a bearded Chris. “Who’s this handsome face?”

Abby grinned instantly and leaned over to tap the picture with her outstretched hand. “Dada!”

It lifted Chris’s spirits up to see her excited reaction. She _did_ love him. 

“That’s right, baby!” Natalia praised. Then, she turned the page and found a clean shaven Chris. “And who’s this?”

Abby stared blankly at the photograph for a few seconds, stealing a cautious glance to her right where Stranger sat. She shook her head violently and leaned against her mother’s chest.

“That’s dada, silly girl!” Natalia laughed before turning the page to reveal another picture. A bearded Chris.

Abby’s reaction was a replica of the first. “Dada!” She giggled.

Natalia gasped for effect, grinning at a less grumpy Chris. “Good job!” Then she turned to another picture and pointed at - yet another - clean shaven Chris. “Look, dada again!”

Abby frowned and her brows furrowed. _Yep_ , her mother _was_ crazy. Just as she suspected.

For the next few minutes, Natalia kept up the little game. First, she’d point out a bearded Chris, then she’d do the same to a clean shaven Chris, making sure she declared it was ‘dada!’ with the same enthusiasm - no matter how he looked.

Towards the end of the album, Chris was losing hope. She still didn’t seem comfortable enough to go to him when he stretched his arms out to take her. But, to his pleasant surprise, the very last beardless picture came to view and a chubby hand swatted it, a girly giggle following the loud _smack_!

“Dada!”

Both Natalia and Chris looked at each other and froze.

Abby twisted around and gazed up at Natalia, waiting for her unfailing praise, then turned to real life Chris. She pointed directly at him before exclaiming, “Dada!”

“Yes!” Chris swooped her away from Natalia without warning and jumped off the bed to swing his gasping and giggling daughter high up in the air. He hollered and cheered like a mad man, causing Abby to laugh so hard her tan skin was now covered with a deep red color.

“Yaaaaay!” Natalia cheered from the bed, clapping her hands. She loved this. Her husband and their little miracle laughing and being crazy together. _Nothing_ beat the elation that filled her at the sight of Chris and Abby’s happiness. This was what she lived for. _Their happiness._

Chris brought a hyper toddler back down to his eye level, bouncing her in his arms and peppering her face with kisses. Her sweet laughter warmed his whole heart. “Who am I?” He quizzed with wide expectant eyes, desperate to hear it again to ensure it wasn’t just a fluke.

Abby stared back at her father, a dreamy smile on her face as she gasped for air. Then she reached out to poke his cheek with her sausage finger, surprised to not get stabbed by the thick hair like she usually did. “Dada!”

 _Dada!_ Another sweet sound.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! xx


End file.
